Lakers @ Suns Sunday game thread 3-21-21

[WhyAlwaysMe]

I may get banned for pointing out your bad Ayton takes. You will definitely have bad Ayton takes.

 

[WhyAlwaysMe]

Ayton has had a rough March:

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lmaooooo it’s like parody at this point

no one can be this myopic

 

[CardsSunsDbacks]

lmaooooo it’s like parody at this point

no one can be this myopic

I am not one of the people that likes to join in on the Ayton bashing, but you completely ignoring facts to tell other people they're idiots is a really bad look.

 

[WhyAlwaysMe]

I am not one of the people that likes to join in on the Ayton bashing, but you completely ignoring facts to tell other people they're idiots is a really bad look.

Lots of these “facts” are gross misrepresentations.

I’m feeling charitable so I’ll help you and the others giving credence to idiot Peterson’s poor points:

1. Why cite rate stats without reference to MINUTES PER GAME?

2. Why cite box out stats without reference to the context of our defensive scheme that requires Ayton—BECAUSE OF HIS SUPERIOR ATTRIBUTES—to track opposing teams’ top primary initiators on the perimeter?

3. For similar reasons, why cite opp rim fg%? What’s the volume, what’s the context, I mean come on, even a novice fan should take a jaundiced eye at that. Unless they WANT to believe what the number purports to show.

4. For somewhat similar reasons, why cite paint touch tov%? First of all, even if it’s the “second highest” of some arbitrary number, it’s still absolutely low and the far better metric is relative ppp on possessions in which Ayton has a post touch. There are a number of deeper contextual dives that could be conducted here as well, but they are not. The answer is simple: the narrative requires that they not be done.

Ayton shot north of 59%. Our defense has been excellent in March, as per usual. His MPG are down a bit due to line-up management and a couple games of random fouls (KAT head to Ayton hand isn’t predictive of much)

It simply doesn’t take much brain power to pick apart transparent dissembling. I guess most fans are just really lazy, and/or don’t care, and/or just don’t like Ayton for illogical reasons. Nothing else explains the willful ignorance.

 

[WhyAlwaysMe]

Ignore those facts. Or feel free to keep up the “bad look”.

 

[CardsSunsDbacks]

Ignore those facts. Or feel free to keep up the “bad look”.

So are you suggesting there is nothing wrong with Ayton's play of late?

 

[WhyAlwaysMe]

So are you suggesting there is nothing wrong with Ayton's play of late?

He’s had some very minor lapses going up against Jokic/Embiid tier C in KAT, and got unlucky on a couple fouls which lowered his MPG slightly. I don’t think there is anything “wrong” with how’s he played. He did his job shutting down Ja on the perimeter and Val punked our wings.

More:

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[JerkFace]

Lots of these “facts” are gross misrepresentations.

I’m feeling charitable so I’ll help you and the others giving credence to idiot Peterson’s poor points:

1. Why cite rate stats without reference to MINUTES PER GAME?

2. Why cite box out stats without reference to the context of our defensive scheme that requires Ayton—BECAUSE OF HIS SUPERIOR ATTRIBUTES—to track opposing teams’ top primary initiators on the perimeter?

3. For similar reasons, why cite opp rim fg%? What’s the volume, what’s the context, I mean come on, even a novice fan should take a jaundiced eye at that. Unless they WANT to believe what the number purports to show.

4. For somewhat similar reasons, why cite paint touch tov%? First of all, even if it’s the “second highest” of some arbitrary number, it’s still absolutely low and the far better metric is relative ppp on possessions in which Ayton has a post touch. There are a number of deeper contextual dives that could be conducted here as well, but they are not. The answer is simple: the narrative requires that they not be done.

Ayton shot north of 59%. Our defense has been excellent in March, as per usual. His MPG are down a bit due to line-up management and a couple games of random fouls (KAT head to Ayton hand isn’t predictive of much)

It simply doesn’t take much brain power to pick apart transparent dissembling. I guess most fans are just really lazy, and/or don’t care, and/or just don’t like Ayton for illogical reasons. Nothing else explains the willful ignorance.

You will not find a single post on this board of me bashing Ayton. He has had a rough March. Forget about stats, my eyeballs can tell me that. I am a huge Ayton supporter and think he gets unfairly blamed for most of the Suns problems. But geez, you can’t be so blindly fanboyish that you can’t acknowledge that he has had a rough March that hopefully he will break out of sooner than later.

 

[WhyAlwaysMe]

Did your eyes show you how he bottled up Ja?

 

[JerkFace]

Did your eyes show you how he bottled up Ja?

Yea, he played his part well in limiting Ja. Ayton has had a rough March. He has had some good moments, but over all March has been by far his worst month of this season.

 

[WhyAlwaysMe]

Facts are not in evidence. Just a quick glance at March splits in bb-ref confirms his team effects were worse in January; straight RTG exactly equivalent. He is shooting 59%, which is only a tick below is season performance, and his scoring per minute is up from last month.

Team has continued to play top level defense with Ayton as primary anchor.

It’s not unreasonable to say he has been perhaps slightly less impactful due to lower MPG, but his performance per minute has been similar if not better.

 

[WhyAlwaysMe]

Dario was way better in February than March. That’s quite clear.

 

[JerkFace]

Dario was way better in February than March. That’s quite clear.

I don’t want to go back and forth on this on a game thread but just one last question: So far this season, which month do you consider to be Ayton’s worst month?

 

[Mainstreet]

Nuggets lost to the Pelicans today which helps a bit. They are in the 6th spot in the West.

 

[WhyAlwaysMe]

I don’t want to go back and forth on this on a game thread but just one last question: So far this season, which month do you consider to be Ayton’s worst month?

December. He has been very consistent since then.

 

[AzStevenCal]

Ayton still cruising with 121/107 RTG splits. 63% TS. Leading 4th ranked defense. Leading in unreasonable dumb haters. 22.

More like "Spectating 4th ranked defense". And that rating will drop if his play continues to disappear. We just played a stretch of 7 games and all looks well because we went 5-2. But we should have gone 7-0.

We have a tough schedule in front of us - if we continue to play like we have recently we could easily lose 21 of our final 32 games.

 

[WhyAlwaysMe]

I hesitate to imagine how you lot would feel if this was a Jazz board and we had dropped 5 of our last 8.

 

[AzStevenCal]

I hesitate to imagine how you lot would feel if this was a Jazz board and we had dropped 5 of our last 8.

Check back in a couple of weeks, you may get the chance to find out.

I'm not alarmed over dropping a couple of games we shouldn't have, I'm concerned because of how poorly we've played even in games we've won.

 

[mjb21aztd]

No let down gm here especially without lebron ad

Suns need to dominate lakers tonight

Woulb be extremely disappointed if suns fail here

 

[Proximo]

Facts are not in evidence. Just a quick glance at March splits in bb-ref confirms his team effects were worse in January; straight RTG exactly equivalent. He is shooting 59%, which is only a tick below is season performance, and his scoring per minute is up from last month.

Team has continued to play top level defense with Ayton as primary anchor.

It’s not unreasonable to say he has been perhaps slightly less impactful due to lower MPG, but his performance per minute has been similar if not better.

I don’t think ayton has gotten worse since the start of the season he just hasn’t gotten any better which is what is pissing everyone off, because our playoff chances pretty much hinge on him getting better.

 

[WhyAlwaysMe]

Everyone is pissed off he had been consistently great since January, and hasn’t become elite at 22 in the last month? Story checks out.

 

[WhyAlwaysMe]

This isn’t the last year Ayton will get a chance to perform in the playoffs, either.

 

[Mainstreet]

There is a possibility Cam Johnson could play tonight.

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[Mainstreet]

Monty says he has never coached a bench with this much talent.

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[Mainstreet]

Marc Gasol will not play tonight.

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